Persona 4 Redux
by XxcloudxX012
Summary: Hit the reset button on the events that occurred in Inaba. Lucas Keep, American transfer extraordinaire, finds himself tangled in the web of a serial murder case, and the mysterious world of Persona. Can he tame the power or will he fall victim to the shadows, and cost the Investigation team everything? Continuation depends on reader interest.
1. Welcome to Inaba

_**June 22nd, 2012**_

The sound of the front door opening and quickly closing brought a smile to my face.

"So, how was work baby?" I got up off my couch to meet my girlfriend by the door. "It was the same as always, why don't you join me sometime?" She had just taken her shoes off and she was looking at me with a smile. I walked up to her and embraced her.

The scent of her perfume flooded my sinuses. "Maybe. Hey why don't we head to Inaba, I heard everyone is meeting up soon." She looked up at me and nuzzled her head on my shoulder. "That sounds lovely, we can talk about the old times." My smile faded. I bit my bottom lip, I had to tell her about something.

"Yu called. Something bad happened with the Shadow Operatives." The room grew silent. Looks like I was sleeping on the couch tonight.

_**April 11th, 2011**_

"Alright! Inaba here I come!"

I flipped my black hair out of my eyes and observed the scenery out of the train window. It was almost dusk and there only a few other people on the train. In all honest, it was weird being the only American on a train heading toward small town in Japan.

I had entered an exchange program at my old school in Florida. Out of everyone in the school, I was chosen to go to Japan for the next school year. My Junior year of High School to be exact. According to Japan's education system, I was a second year student though. Something about there only being three years of high school.

Regardless, I was to be staying at an Inn near the school until the schools could work out living arrangements for me. I pulled my new cell phone out of my pocket and began to fill in all my old numbers. My old carrier didn't have service in Japan, so I had to get a new phone with a new provider. This new phone was amazing though!

Apparently if you touched phones with someone who had the same model it would register the contact information automatically! "Man Japan has the coolest shit." I kicked my feet up and kept entering all the old numbers. Eventually an announcement came on, "Last call for YasoInaba." I sighed and grabbed my luggage.

Only one other person appeared to be getting off the train. He looked pretty weird because of his odd hair color. It was either silver or gray, I couldn't really tell because of the glare from the sun going down. "Hey guy!" I yelled out to him and he stopped to turn around. "I'm Lucas Keep, what's your name?" He smiled and held out his hand, which I took.

"Yu Narukami. Are you moving to Inaba as well?"

I nodded and forced myself not to laugh at how formal he sounded. "Where are you from?" I could tell he noticed I wasn't Japanese, and he seemed to be trying to ask in the most politically correct way possible. "I'm from the states man. Florida, if they teach that here." Narukami smiled and nodded. "Yeah they teach some stuff about America."

I nodded myself and headed out of the train station, the town looked dead. "Man, this place is smaller than I expected." Narukami chuckled and pulled out his phone. It was the same model as mine!

"Dude we have the same phone! I want to try out that touch thingy!" Narukami stared at me like I was crazy, but he held it out to indulge me. I pulled my own phone out and touched the back, in seconds I had all of his contact information. "This is so sweet, I wish we had that in the States!" Narukami chuckled before walking off in the direction of two people.

A man and a little girl, I assumed they were his family. "Later Narukami, maybe I'll see you around!" I pulled out the documents my old school had provided for me and made my way to the 'Amagi Inn.'

Eventually, I weaved my way through downtown and found myself at a somewhat secluded Inn. "This place looks sweet!" I headed in and walked up to the desk. "Hello, I'm Lucas Keep and I have a reservation." The lady at the desk looked as if she couldn't understand me.

It suddenly dawned on me that not everyone here would be able to speak English. "Well this is awkward."

I seemed to be in a tough spot until a girl with black hair, around my age, walked over. She seemed to translate my message to the desk lady. I deduced this because I heard Lucas Keep come out of her mouth. "Thank you so much, I thought that was going to get pretty bad." I smiled and the girl returned it before bowing.

"It was no trouble, Lucas-San. I hope you enjoy your stay." I tilted my head in confusion. "San? And what's your name?" Her eyes got a little wide, I'm not entirely sure why either. "Oh sorry, San is a way of addressing someone equal to you, and my name is Yukiko Amagi." Nodding, I put my hands behind my head.

"Well, Yukiko-San, I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance." She smiled and bowed again.

"You're welcome Lucas-San, I suggest you look up honorifics to make your stay in Inaba a little easier." I nodded and grabbed my room key that was sitting on the counter. "Have a good night Yukiko." I headed up a set of stairs, and it wasn't until I got to my room that I realized I forgot the 'San'. "Man, I'm bad at this."

Sighing, I opened the door to the room and saw a pretty spacious place in front of me. There was only one problem. Instead of a bed, there was a mat.

"Maybe, coming to Japan was a bad idea." My poor back would be dead by the time living arrangements would be made. Feeling drained from the long travel, I dug through my bag and pulled out my school uniform. "Yasogami huh?" Already dreading the thought of a uniform, I plopped down on the mat and began to ease myself into sleep.

_**April 12th, 2011**_

"Jesus christ, my back is killing me."

I opened my eyes around 6:00 am, way too early. In one, not so swift, motion I stood up off the mat and walked to the nearest wall. Placing my right arm on the wall, I twisted my body towards my arm.

I felt every single joint on my back crack. "Oh sweet baby Jesus, that was amazing." I continued to stretch and soon made my way to the room's bathroom to conduct my morning routine. You have no idea how great a hot shower is after a intense back cracking. After taking care of all my hygienic needs, I walked to my new school uniform and began to get dressed.

"This is going to be terrible." I could hardly breathe in the uniform, and it looked goofy on me. The weird faded black, grayish uniform didn't appear to flattering on me. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I made my way over and opened it. It was Yukiko. "Oh! I came to ask if you were attending Yasogami, but your uniform seems to have answered my question."

I smiled and nodded, I took the time to observe her appearance. She appeared to be wearing the school uniform, but the top was totally covered with a red jacket type article of clothing. "Would you mind showing me the way to school? I have no idea where it is." Yukiko nodded and left the doorway.

Before I headed down the stairs, I took the time to grab my wallet, phone, and iPod. Slipping my ear buds in, I browsed my music until I found exactly what I was looking for. I cleared my throat and began to sing as I went to meet up with Yukiko.

_Shove me under you again_  
_I can't wait for this to end_  
_Sober, empty in the head_  
_I know I can never win_  
_Why should I have to wait_  
_I'll just look the other way_

_We left this land of shiny lights_  
_I wish I may, I wish I might_  
_When all these dreams have come to end_  
_You wish you were, you're not my friend_

I noticed her staring at me, and I felt my face get a little redder than it normally does. "Sorry, I just start singing sometimes." She shook her head and gave me a flustered look of her own. "You sing very nicely." I smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, I don't want to be late on my first day!" Dragging her out of the Inn was easy enough and soon we began the walk to Yasogami high school. It was raining, it sucked. "So, this is the place?" We had made it to what looked like a school, and I was only partially drenched! The school's outer wall had a gate that reminded me of a prison.

"I wonder what kind of student life awaits me here?" I looked around and spotted Narukami walking inside. "Hey Narukami!" I ran over to him and jumped on his back, leaving Yukiko behind. "Hello Lucas, I didn't know you were transferring here. We should go to the office together." I nodded and followed Narukami to wherever it was he was taking me.

After what seemed like endless waiting for my schedule and sitting through a pseudo lecture from a teacher, it turned out that Narukami and I had the same class.

"Class 2-2 huh? Looks like we get to hang out together in class!" I was pretty pumped to have someone I kind of knew in my class. We headed to our designated room and saw possibly the ugliest man I've ever seen standing outside the door. "Who is that? Why does he have horse teeth?" Narukami elbowed me in the side, as if to punish me for bad talking a walking deformation.

"Listen you American punk, you better show respect to our culture and don't even think about getting the girls infested with your American diseases!" My mouth detached from my head, there was no way this asshole could have a job here. "Get in my classroom now!" Narukami and I looked at each other.

"Yeah, should've stayed in Florida."

We followed the horse in and stood in front of the class. "Awright, shut your traps!" God this was going to be bad. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" I faceplamed, this year was going to be an utter shitstorm. "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons." Was this guy really serious?

"Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!" Why does this have to be a thing? Just kill me now! "Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce the transfer students. This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. And the other's an American clown shipped away from home."

Clown? This guy was going to get a healthy serving of my foot, in his ass! "And they're just as much of a loser here as they were there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on them!" I snorted and looked at Narukami. "Tell 'em your names, and make it quick."

I went first, "I'm Lucas Keep, and I'm the American." I grinned and looked to Narukami again. "Yu Narukami." I clapped sarcastically at his emotionless response. "He's a talkative guy, ladies."

Morooka growled at me and got in my face. "This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!" I couldn't keep my laughter in any longer, I cracked up in his face. Me, abuse a girl? That is downright foolish son!

He began ranting about technology or something. I thought I was going to die by lecture until a girl in a green jacket got his attention. "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?" Narukami and I booked it, fearing more lectures.

Narukami took the seat next to her and I grabbed the one behind her and next to some brown haired guy. I leaned back in the desk and looked around the room, I spotted Yukiko just two seats ahead of me. The girl in green managed to get both Narukami and I's attention. "He's the worst, huh?" I nodded and rested my head against my arm.

"Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class, We'll just have to hang in there for a year." I groaned and started to block people out. "So my life at this new school has begun, will I be able to fit in here?"

Narukami looked at me in confusion. As if I was reading his mind. Which I wasn't, that would be freaking sweet though! I took that as my chance to sleep. Only to be woken up by the intercom going off.

_"-all teachers, please report immediately to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."_

I stretched back and tuned out more of Morooka's bullshit. I looked around the class again and I noticed some guy talking to Yukiko. "Mind if I ask you something?" I was curious and began to eavesdrop ever so slightly. "Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's Inn?" I regarded the information as useless and turned my attention elsewhere.

The girl in green grabbed my attention as she walked around my desk to Yukiko's. She began to strike up conversation with her. Sighing, I plopped my head back down on my desk.

_"Attention, all students, there has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the school zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible and quickly leave the school grounds-"_

Man the lady over the intercoms was annoying. The levels were terrible too. "That was an uneventful first day." Everybody else seemed to disagree though. They all started freaking out. I let people start to clear out before grabbing my possessions.

"Hey are you going home by yourself? Why don't you come with us?"

I looked up to see Narukami, the green jacket girl and Yukiko by my desk. "Maybe?" She seemed to flip out all of a sudden, surprising me. "Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit in front of you right?" I nodded and waved awkwardly. "Howdy Miss Satonaka. Howdy Narukami and Amagi." I got up and we all began to walk when we were interrupted by the brown haired kid I sat next to.

"Uh, Miss Satonaka?" I sighed, seems someone already beat me to the 'Miss' schtick. "This was really awesome. Like the way they moved was just amazing to see. And I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!" Seems he broke whatever it was he was holding out for Chie. A DVD by the sounds of it.

"Seeya, thanks!" He began to take off, only to be stopped by Miss Satonaka. "Stop right there, what did you do to my DVD?"

I heard a cry of pain and looked to see the guy grabbing his crotch in pain. "That's just wrong." My comment seemed to go unnoticed by everyone though. "What the!? I can't believe this! It's completely cracked. My Trial of the Dragon!" That was literally one of the worst reasons to hit a guy below the belt. "I think mine's cracked too... C-Critical hit to the nads." I winced in pain.

"Not even a Curaga spell could fix that one dude."

It seemed no one caught my reference though. "A-Are you all right?" I'm glad at least Yukiko was showing concern for a dying manhood! "Oh, Yukiko-San are you worried about me?" And there went all sympathy for him. I patted him on the back and followed everyone else out of the classroom. "Invest in a cup yeah?"

He looked at me in despair and I left him to his own devices. "Hold on guys, I have to pee. I'll see you by the gates!" I took the moment to slip into the bathroom and relieve myself. Seems my bladder had all of a sudden decided that it was time to cause me pain. After washing my hands I ran down the stairs, grabbed my shoes, and headed out to the gate.

The brown haired guy from before was looking dejected. I surprised him by patting his back and saying, "Once again, nut cup." He looked disturbed and it seems I had killed the moment. He took off and left a flustered Chie behind. "Let's go, everybody is staring!" Slowly, we all filed out of the school grounds.

"What exactly did I miss?" Narukami sighed, and I took it as a sign to let it go.

* * *

"Ah so you cam here because of your parents' job. Haha,I thought it was something way more serious. And I didn't even know our school had a transfer program." Chie had spent most of the walk from the school interrogating us about our reasons for moving.

"Yeah pretty much! So what's fun around here?" Chie thought it over a good minute before answering, "I think our dyed clohtes or pottery or something is kinda famous. Oh wait, it there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!" I nodded and crossed my arms, the wind was starting to pick up.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice. I'm just not used to the lack of bed's over here." Yukiko looked panicked, as if her country's culture was making my stay unpleasant. Which it wasn't, well maybe my back was unpleasant. "It's been in all sorts of magazines as a hidden treasure! Yukiko here is going to take over someday." I gave a 'hmm' in interest and looked at Yukiko. She seemed pretty uncomfortable about all of this.

"So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Of course, I should've known that things were headed down this track. I nodded curtly and observed Narukami. He was blushing like a madman, causing Chie to giggle at him. Yukiko was not amused however. "Come on, Don't start this again."

I knew that feeling very well. Back in the States I had a friend who would try to set me up with girl's like that all the time. Yukiko seemed to be getting pretty flustered over something that I must've missed while reminiscing. "Sorry but this is our chance to talk to somebody from the big city and you barely said a word!" I smiled, I wasn't even from some huge city like Miami or whatever.

Once again I missed something as everybody was a good twenty paces ahead of me.

I sighed and jogged to catch up with them. "-Could imagine THAT hanging from an antenna?" Some soccer moms were talking about something I wasn't sure I wanted to know about. "You got here too late, The police and fire department took it down just a moment ago." I froze as I started to piece together what could've been up there.

Soon one of the mom's confirmed my fear. A dead body was on an antenna.

"A dead body? Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." It wasn't the time for jokes, but I didn't know what else to say. It was as if someone took all the life out of our gaggle of schoolmates.

A fairly young man approached us. "What're you doing here?" The question was directed at Narukami. I think he was the guy who picked him up at the station last night. "We're just passing by." The man nodded and the other three of us were confused. "I should have figured that would happen. That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here."

I looked at Narukami and heard Chie voice my thoughts. "You know this guy?" Let's be honest, this guy was sketchy as fuck. "I'm detective Dojima, his guardian. I hope you get along with him." Well that made more sense, but he was still sketchy. "You four should really head straight home." I was about to say a smartass remark, but a guy ran by me and proceeded to puke on the side of the road.

"Charming." The two men left the four of us standing in the middle of the street. "Well Yukiko, let's bail!" I sprinted off in probably the wrong direction, only to look back and see Yukiko walking after me. I stopped and waited for her to catch up. When she caught up to me, we embarked towards the Inn. It was so silent, I could've died.

Which if you were keeping count, would've been my third near death experience today.

We entered the Inn and Yukiko rushed off to do whatever it is she does to help out. I however, went to my room and dug out the items pertaining to my hobby. Yugioh cards. My deck was all sleeved up, pristine condition. "I wonder if anyone duels around town?" I examined every card in my deck four times over. "I really wish Dragonfly didn't get limited to one. Takes so much away from the deck."

Eventually I decided to get ready for bed. Before I could get settled on the mat, I heard a knock. Yukiko was on the other side of the door. "I wanted to inform you that a guest here has passed away." She was looking at the ground, a very unsure and startled tone in her voice. "Was the guest the dead body everyone was talking about on the way here?"

She nodded and brought her head up. "It was the announcer, Miss Yamano." I looked at her with a blank stare. "I don't have any idea who that is." Once again, my joking tone didn't help anything. "Thanks for telling me though. Go relax Yukiko-San, you look like you need the rest." I smiled and waved her off. She looked fairly relieved.

"You remembered the honorific this time." She smiled back and headed away to wherever it is she goes. "I mispronounced it didn't I?" I said "S-an" instead of "Sawn" I can't catch a break today.

I groaned and went to bed.

* * *

SO this was totally unplanned and continuing it really depends on the reaction I get. If its positive enough, I'll keep it going when I have time to play through the game. If you liked it and want to see more of it, all you have to do is drop a little review in that box down below. Also let me know how the OC is coming across, I tried to make him someone relatable without being too cookie cutter.

I may see you folks next time, if you so desire it.


	2. The Midnight Channel?

_**April 13th, 2011**_

"Why did I choose to sleep in for that extra ten minutes? It never helps." I was currently sprinting from the Inn on the way to the school. I had decided that I deserved a little extra sleep time after how bad the first day in town went.

Now I was paying for it.

I had no idea what time school was supposed to start, all I knew is that Yukiko had already left the Inn when I emerged from my room. I rounded the next corner to see Narukami helping the brown haired kid from yesterday out of a trashcan.

Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad about waking up late. By the time I made it over to them, the guy with brown hair was up on his feet. "Oh yeah, that's right. You're that transfer student, Yu Narukami. You're the guy from America right? Luke Weeks?"

I facepalmed. I hadn't been in the conversation for more than a second. "Lucas Keep actually." He smiled and held out his hand.

"I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet the two of ya." I smiled and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too." Narukami was the one doing the talking. Everyone seemed to be okay despite the somewhat awkward exchange. I mean, who shakes hands these days?

"Did you hear about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna!" The grin on my face vanished.

"Yeah we walked by the crime scene."

Yosuke's eyes went a little wide, but he regained his composure. "You think it was some kinda warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident." I shrugged and looked at my phone. Time was ticking away.

"You may be on to something." Narukami, still speaking in riddles.

"Dangling a dead body over a roof like that. That's just messed up. Then again, It's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place." Sighing seemed like the best response at the time. "Oh crap, we're late! You wanna ride? It's a little squeaky, but it should be fine."

Narukami looked worried, but I wasn't about to pass up effortless travel. "Yeah, I'm in." I hopped on his back pegs and we took off towards the prison-school.

* * *

"Never again Yosuke." I picked myself off the ground and dusted my uniform off. Everything had been going fine until his bike chain decided to fly off and we found ourselves rolling toward the gate at the speed of sound.

Unlike Sonic, we were screaming, and I wish we could say that they were manly screams.

They weren't.

To make matters worse, Narukami had walked past us with only a smirk on his face. "I'll have my revenge on you Narukami!" My cry went unresponded,

Yosuke had picked himself up and stared at the pieces of what was his bike. "What am I going to do?" His bike could be trashed beyond saving, but my back was killing me. So that clearly took priority in my book.

"I need a real bed within the next week or I'm going to die." Yosuke trailed me into the school, his head hung in shame. He had tried to apologize, but I just cut him off. Nothing was going to make that crash feel any less humiliating.

We walked into class and sat down. Only with a minute to spare too. After just a few minutes, Morooka was going at it. Someone had been talking and it seemed as if Morooka was ready to murder someone.

"Be quiet, you idiots! You guys ARE in high school, aren't you? Can't you shut up during class? Don't you have any common sense?" Chie was looking around the room, in fact almost everyone was. Narukami was the only exception.

He was looking at Morooka intensely.

"First of all, my job is to waste my precious time teaching you assholes philosophy! And since I'm so nice I'll straighten up your rotten attitudes while I'm at it! Aren't you honored!?" I began coughing into my arm at that moment.

While Morooka payed no attention, everyone around me did. "Well no Horse face, I'm not." The works were barely audible, but Yosuke heard me. I had to hit him to keep him from laughing. "I'll be going especially hard on any of you morons that're curious about the murder! Got it? Now get your books out!"

God today was going to be just as bad as yesterday.

"Wake me up when class is over Yosuke. I'm going under for a few hours."

"Hey man Narukami and I are going for some grilled steak, are you in?" I nodded and shook myself awake. Yosuke was promising steak and I had just recharged my batteries.

Power naps are just the greatest. I stood up and began to stretch, cracking some joints on my back and shoulders. "Feels good man." Yosuke and Narukami seemed to disagree, with looks of disgust on their faces.

Chie had wandered over with an angry look during my back adjustment. Chie being pissed seemed to be the norm around here. "What about me huh? No apologies? My 'Trial of the Dragon'" He did kind of owe her a new movie.

Which I don't think equals the price of a steak, but still she had a point.

"You always come around when I'm talking about food." Food is the ultimate attention getter, let it be known. "How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us too?" That was a little uncalled for. Yukiko had nothing to do with their squabble.

"I'll pass. I don't want to gain anymore weight. I need to help out at the inn today anyway." There was no way she should be worried about weight, but I smiled at her and nodded anyway. "I'll see you later tonight Yukiko."

She didn't seem too energetic today.

"Wow, Yukiko-San! You started training to take over the business?" From what I gathered yesterday, that would normally cause Yukiko to get really upset. She just kind of kept the same demeanor though. Something was up.

"It's not like that! I'm just helping out when it gets busy." It probably had to do with the murder. "Well, I should be on my way." With that she left the four of us. "Oh well, we should get going too."

That was a good point, most of the people in the classroom had left already. "Huh? Do I seriously have to treat three people?" I let loose a chuckle, an exasperated Yosuke seems like the perfect ingredient for a good time.

"Come on, at least now you won't be temped to repair that crappy bike."

* * *

So what kind of place is Junes you ask? Its the super duper mini mall of awesomeness! It had an arcade, grocery store, food court, and all kinds of other shops.

"This place is the best! I don't even care if there isn't steak here"

"THIS is the cheap place you were talking about? They don't have grilled steak here."

Seems as if Chie and I disagreed on this one. Steak wasn't even close to a deal breaker for me. Goods times were to be had! "Yeah well, once you hopped on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans."

I grabbed a soda from the trey Yosuke set down and began to guzzle down an ice cold cola. "Still, that's no reason to take us to your place." This soda tasted kind of weird. Did they not have coke in Japan? I thought it was a worldwide brand.

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything." I looked up to see Chie and Yosuke staring at me. Seems I was supposed to be paying attention. "Sorry, this soda is throwing me off." I went back to drinking and began to actually pay attention.

"Right. I haven't told you guys yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here."

Sounded really interesting, but this soda was my focus. The taste wasn't bad, but the consistency was all over the place. "What brand is this?" Everyone gave me and odd look, as if I should be able to tell. "TaP soda? Why?"

I tilted my head to the side. "The fuck is a TaP soda?"

I probably dropped the f bomb a little too loud there. "I guess you don't have that in America." I shook my head and soon the conversation took off again.

"It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since. A lot of stores there started closing and... Oh, uh." Smooth Satonaka, very smooth. Yosuke blew it off though.

"Man this TaP stuff is weird." Yosuke looked at me, as if to tell me to shut up. Still he just went on with his reply.

"You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?"

I stood up and began to walk away. "Be back, refill." I was done with my drink already. I almost got lost looking for it, but it wasn't long before I found the the proper machine.

I put in my money and stared at the machine carefully. I still hadn't figured out the Japanese words I probably should've learned and now I was paying for it. I had no idea which button would give me TaP soda.

There were only two options, but this was a crucial decision. I closed my eyes and reached for the closest button. The machine wound up and I heard the sound of a bottle fall to the bottom. I reached in and picked it up.

Seems I had gotten lucky! There was a bottle of TaP waiting for me.

Suddenly, I realized that I had no idea which button I pushed. "That was some smooth thinking Keep." Sighing, I grabbed the bottle and made my way back to the table.

"So what did I miss?"

I sat back down and everyone was pretty much the same as when I left them. "Not much, you ever hear of the Midnight Channel?" Sounded lame, but let's hear it out. I shook my head no and motioned for her to go on.

"You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night." Yep lame. "While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen. They say that person's your soul mate." Defiantly lame.

"For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful." A little harsh there Yosuke. "How can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend like that?" Lay off Yosuke. It's not that childish. Well maybe it is, but that's no reason to lay into her.

"Childish, huh? You don't believe it, do you?" Honestly there was no way in a frozen hell that supernatural stuff like that could exist, but I could tell we were going to have to humor her. "Well it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out then you'll see!"

This sounded terrible. I had to sleep. Sleep is a good thing. "You know that incident yesterday? You guys think it was murder?" I nodded and approved of Yosuke's magical subject changing powers. "What if the culprit was still lurking around?" He followed that up with a creepy laugh. "You shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one? All I'm saying is, you guys better try it out" I groaned and gave in.

"I seriously doubt anything will happen, but if anything comes on the screen I will eat a rusty shingle, just for you Chie."

* * *

The Inn was oddly quiet when I entered the doors.

No one was at the desk, and I had no idea where Yukiko could be at this time of the night. So I decided to actually explore the Inn, something I had neglected to do in the few days I'd been in town.

Everything looked pretty standard. Except there was no pool? Most Inn's had pools right? Or was that just an American thing? I rounded a corner and saw a couple of signs each with an arrow. One pointed to Mens and the other to Womens.

"I wonder what's here?" I crossed to the correct side and stared inside. There was a hot springs! "This place just got 15 percent cooler." I smiled and quickly made my way to my room to change. One cast aside uniform later I was standing around in my lime green swim trunks.

"They feel a little loose, but it should all be good." Before I left the room, I stared at my body in the mirror. Nothing too special, but I was in pretty good condition for not having been in the gym for a while.

"I better get back in shape before sports season starts." I had no idea what sports the school had available, but I needed to be ready to dominate.

Enough staring for now, I made my way out of the room with a towel around my shoulders and bumped into Yukiko. "Howdy there Yukiko! Feeling any better?" I smiled and leaned against the hallway's wall. "Oh yes, Lucas-San, I'm feeling fine."

She looked me over and stared at my chest. "Are you headed towards the hot springs?" I nodded and flexed ever so slightly, just to see how she'd react. No effect. "Well I hope you enjoy them." I smiled once again and left her to her own business.

She was clearly still down compared to before, but I was still no closer to getting a definite reason out of her.

After a few minutes, I found myself in front of the doors to the hot springs. The signs had been changed, and they were in Japanese. "This is like Russian roulette." I gulped and closed my eyes, seeing as how it had already worked for me earlier today.

"Here goes something." I stepped through the door on the left, only for the reason of being left handed. I fumbled with the door into the spring and found the place totally empty. "Well, If a girl wanders in, I can always pull the I don't know Japanese excuse."

I smirked and stared at the water, it look the perfect temperature for a soak. I eased myself in and let my muscles relax in the amazingness of the springs. "This is just what my back needed." I dived under the water and began to swim around underneath the surface.

When I came up, my hair was matted down in my face. I slung it to the side and saw Yukiko, covered with only a towel at the water's edge. My eyes went wide and we both screamed. I dove back under the water and held my breath as long as possible.

A solid twenty seconds.

When my lungs demanded me to go up, Yukiko was hiding her body behind the doorway. "I'm sorry, I can't read Japanese, and I thought this was the men's side!" I hopped out of the water, leaving my towel forgotten, and rushed the the proper side of the hot springs.

The next side was empty too, leaving a bad feeling in the back of my mind.

When I had calmed down, something struck me as odd. Why was Yukiko only covered with a towel, was that what I was supposed to do in the hot springs? Deciding not to chance it, I left my trunks on.

* * *

A half hour of soaking later, I was ready to leave the springs. Outside the door, Yukiko was waiting for me, with a perfectly dry towel. "Thanks so much Yukiko-San. I'm really sorry about earlier." Her face was a little flushed, but she seemed to regain her composure quickly.

"That's okay, I'll have signs with English on them up more often." I smiled and walked toward my room. Drying myself off as I went. The clock read around 11:50 when I had changed out of my drenched swim suit.

It was currently hanging over the bath tub, while I was staring at the TV. There was no way this was going to work, but I had a feeling that if I didn't humor Chie bad things would happen. Pulling out my phone, I began to sift through numbers until I found my mom's.

"I should probably call her soon." 11:59, I got up and checked out the window to make sure it was raining. It was, but I did three strange colored lights off in the distance. One was pretty close, but the other two looked to be across town.

"That's just weird."

I blew it off and stared at the TV, the clock read midnight and nothing had happened. "What a waste of sleep, you owe me Chie." Just as I was ready to lay down and call it a day, a yellow flickering light came on the TV,

"You have to be shitting me."

There was no emotion or surprise in my voice. The yellow lights weren't all, I could barely make out the picture of a girl on the screen. "This is insane in the membrane." I was glad that I had gotten my tetanus shots.

With the way Chie nailed Yosuke, I had begun to mentally prepare myself to eat a rusty shingle.

"There goes being able to sleep tonight."

* * *

So I felt like that went pretty Ok. This would've been up sooner, but band practice and hanging out with some friends kept me from being able to edit this. Alas, its up now and I'm happy to say that I think I'll continue making this story.

My thanks go out to **Vincent the Vizard, Sladaris, and IarIz** for reviewing. Thanks for the kind words and if any of you ever want to strike up a chat about the story feel free to pm me about it :).


	3. Rusty Shingles

"Hello everyone. My name is Kimiko Sofue, and I don't know how much you know about world history, but I'm an expert" God it was this class again. Third time I've had to take this stupid course.

"First a little about me. I love to use my dowser to look for lost items, and there's nothing quite like a romance." I peered up from my smart phone and looked at my teacher again. "This is ridiculous. First a horse, and now a pharaoh." I shook my head and turned my attention back towards my phone. What was a dowser anyway?

Who exactly was in charge of hiring at this school? This had to be the easiest school to get a job at.

"In fact, world history is a magnificent romance. History is like a river; it was born in the past and flows ever forward." Why did I have to come to Japan? This was looking like a worse and worse decision everyday. "I hope we can all enjoy the profundity of history together!" After that, she laughed and it sounded awkward and forced. "This is terrible."

Narukami glared at me from his desk in front of me and I eased up on the smartass comments. Even if only three people could hear them. "And since this is my first lecture, I'll start with an easy question. Our transferee, Mr Keep, Please stand up."

Great, she probably could hear me from up there.

I got up out of the desk and stood awkwardly "When did A.D. In other words, Anno Domini, Begin?" Was she serious? I learned this back in elementary school. "Uhm, When Jesus was born?" The class seemed to be at a still for way too long. "Ah, you seem to understand this well. And does anyone know what BC stands for? Oh I'll just tell you. Before Christ, or the years before Christ was born."

No shit lady. Japan has some weird schooling. "This is, of course, the way we count our years today, bit it wasn't adopted in Western Europe until the 15th century." Well I didn't know that part, so I guess that wasn't all bad. "It was around that time that there were many religious wars and power shifts occurring." Back to the simple stuff I see.

Well, I guess you only learn one new thing a day.

"Anyhow the world's beliefs have been in an ever-flowing tide since humanity began to emphasize religion. Most holidays are related to religion, you know. If you do some research, you may find some interesting facts." What is she on? I thought everybody knew this stuff. And when exactly was I supposed to sit down? My leg was starting to cramp up.

"But regardless of the culture or the tradition, the tide decides who will survive in the present and the future. And those survivors ensure that their will is passed odwn to the next generation. But now it's time to start from the beginning. Let's take a look at the origin of civilization." I took that as my cue to sit. Which I gladly did.

The awkwardness made me want to die.

"At least the answer was correct. I think anyway." Yosuke face palmed and I gave up on the day. "Wake me up when something important happens."

* * *

"Yo, Um." I looked up and saw Yosuke standing over my desk with Narukami.

"It's not really that important but. Well yesterday on TV, I." Ah, I was wondering when the midnight channel shit was going to start creeping up. "Save it, and don't let Chie rub it in too much. I don't particularly want to eat a rusty shingle." They both nodded and soon we were joined by our green-jacketed friend.

"Yosuke, did you hear the rumor?" Great, she didn't waste anytime did she? "Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who discovered that body." I looked up in confusion. Not what I was expecting to hear from her. "Two things. What's a Senpai and who is Saki?" Everyone looked at me for a moment.

"I don't understand Japanese things people! Is that really so hard to grasp?" The looks didn't change.

"Senpai is someone older than you, someone you respect. Saki is Yosuke's girlfriend." I tilted my head and stared at Yosuke. "How does this guy have a girlfriend, but I haven't in over a year?" Yosuke didn't take that too kindly. "Cut it out man! She's not my girlfriend. Anyway, I wonder if that's why she looked so down. She doesn't seem to be at school today either."

Great just ignore my cries for help. Great friends you're turning out to be. I need your sympathy dammit!

Suddenly Yukiko got up, and it almost made me jump out of my desk it was so sudden. "Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the Inn today too?" She nodded and gave a sad look. "Things are really out of hand right now. I'm sorry." With that she left. I was going to have to give her a hug or something to cheer her up. "Is it just me, or does Yukiko-San seem way stressed out today?"

I nodded and looked up at everyone. "She was down at the Inn last night too." Everyone save Chie gave me a look of surprise. "How do you know that Lucas?" I raised my eyebrow and tried to catch what Yosuke was implying. "I'm staying at the Inn until a house opens up?" Chie cleared her throat and took the attention off of me.

"By the way, did you see it last night?" Here it comes. I don't have to get another Tetanus shot do I? Was one shot supposed to last your whole life? "Huh? Well, what about you?" Way to turn it back on her Yosuke! That'll show her? "I did! I seriously saw a girl!"

One word. Lesbian. "But, my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?" Once again, lesbian.

"I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure." I yawned and drowned out Miss Lesbian McGee. "I think that's the same person I saw." Well, way to make things weird Yosuke. Come to think of it, I saw a girl in our school uniform last night. At least I think it was. "I couldn't make out that much detail, though. The image I saw was much blurrier."

Sounds like what I saw all right. "Wait so you saw it too!?" Crap you gave it away Yosuke, we could've made her think she was crazy! "We saw the same girl? Does that mean we have the same soulmate?" I coughed and gave a look of mock surprise.

"You get a threesome, you get a threesome, everybody gets a threesome!" Narukami took that moment to hit me across the back of my head. "Fine, you don't get a threesome!" Another hit. "Alright, I'll stop." Some people apparently don't appreciate Oprah references.

Narukami sighed and stood up a little taller. "I saw the same thing you guys saw. Then I heard a voice, and it told me to touch the TV! When I touched the screen my hand went through! My whole body felt like it was getting sucked in, the only reason I didn't was because my TV is too small!" Well, I didn't expect Narukami to be the mocking type.

"Were you that tired last night? You must've fallen asleep in front of your TV." No I don't that was it. I'm pretty sure he's just mocking you guys. "That'd be one interesting dream though. I like the part where you got stuck cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic." Again sarcasm people.

"I haven't heard you say that much in all the time I've known you Narukami. If you had actually managed to put your hand through, I would have to eat a rusty shingle." He was giving us a death glare, which made me think something was up. "That reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV." Great transition there Chie.

"Oh yeah? Well, flat screen TVs are definitely in these days." These days? Its 2011 Yosuke, they've been in for a long while. "Either you or Japan are dumb. Flat screens have been in almost every home for like years back in the states." Everyone shook their heads at me. Even Narukami, who just told us his hand went through his TV!

"You know what let's just go to Junes. I want some more of the TaP stuff." Yosuke smiled, seeing as how someone was finally not giving Junes crap. "Yeah, we're beefing up our electronics section. I bet we could find one you could fit into!" Burned son. "Better get some ice to put on that one Narukami." Third or fourth hit of the day. I kind of lost track at this point. I was starting to become numb to Narukami's hits already.

Not a one of us believed him, and I think we were starting to piss him off.

* * *

I grabbed the bottle of TaP out of the machine. My phone was just the greatest. I had looked up what the symbol for the TaP machine was supposed to be and now I was one step closer to surviving Inaba.

"Guess I better meet up with everyone else." I spun on my heel and walked to the giant sign near the back of the store. It had electronics spread across it, and as far as I knew that's where everybody was. When I rounded the corner I saw the whole group. Yosuke and Chie by a TV, and Narukami with his hand through another.

"Hey guys."

Wait, what was Narukami doing! "You have got to be shitting me! That's two fucking shingles in two days! Fuck you guys!" Both Yosuke and Chie had begun to freak out with me. "Is that some kind of new model? Like with a new function?" Does it look like a new model? "Hell no!" Again Chie, does it really look like a new model?

We all ran over to Narukami. "You gotta be kidding me. Did you really stick your hand through the screen?" This is some old fashioned bullshit. "Oh man. This is for real. That's some magic trick, man!" We were all staring at him, there was no way this could be happening. "I might be able to put in more than just my arm." Jesus Christ! What is going through your head Narukami?

"Don't do that! What're you doing!?" His whole head was in the TV. "There's empty space inside." I really don't know what he was expecting in a fucking TV! "We get it, we're assholes. Pull your head out of TV dude!" I looked around, this was about to get bad. "It's spacious in here." I give up, this is a dream. "Holy crap. I think this is all too much for my bladder." That was just gross. "What the? Are you going to pee your pants!?" God that would be the sanest thing to happen in the past hour!

"I've been holding it in all day! I haven't had a chance to go." Great. Things are looking fantastic! Yosuke took off and came back so fast I wasn't sure he had really left. "Shit! Customers! They're coming!" So, who wants to explain this to people? Cause I'm not it! "What!? But we've got a guy half stuck in a TV here!" Yosuke and Chie took the moment to run around. Which helped nothing.

Especially when they knocked all of us into the fucking TV!

* * *

I could feel myself falling. Falling, and falling. I felt my body hit the ground hard and ended up landing on my head. I couldn't focus on anything. I could feel myself slip in and out of consciousness.

"Hey!" I saw Chie in the distance, someone was running towards me. "Are you okay Lucas?" I shook my head no, I could barely keep my eyes open. My head was killing me. "Wait a minute. Which way did we come in from?" Everybody was talking really loud, and I wanted to shoot all of them. "We came from up! Or do you not remember falling?"

God damn I was pissed. "Everyone calm down!" Narukami was shouting at us. He could be scary when he wanted to. "You're right. Let's calm down and think about this." I coughed to interrupt him. "Look, I just busted my head. It would be lovely if you guys could be a little quieter." Everyone gave a guilty look and Yosuke propped me up against his shoulder.

"Come on, I'll give you a hand. Let's go look for an exit."

* * *

"What is this place? It feels different from where we were before." We had been walking for what felt like hours. There had been nothing that looked like it would get us home. "It looks like we're in some kinda building, but damn. This fog's so thick, I can hardly see."

He was right, the fog here was blinding. "Are you sure we're not wandering father away?" That was a very good point. I pushed myself off of Yosuke. Feeling like I had regained enough of my senses to stand on my own. "I can't be positive, but we've gotta trust our instinct a little." Also a good point. "I know, but."

We get it Chie, we're all afraid of being stuck here. Wherever here was. "Come on, let's check out that door up ahead." We walked through and saw a pretty cramped room. "Is it just me, or is the fog lighter here?" I couldn't really tell. But that may be just because I had fallen on my head.

Yosuke pulled out his phone and tried to text someone. "No service. What a surprise." I sighed and sat down on the bed. "I applaud you for your effort comrade." I looked around the room and saw a noose.

Clearly the best thing to see at the moment.

"Oh god, I think I'm going to throw up." Hurling chunks all over the room wasn't all that happened, I ended up slipping on my barf and hitting my head again.

* * *

When I came to we were back in the area where we fell. "Whoever carried me is my new best friend." I looked around and saw Chie raising her hand. "My gratitude Miss Satonaka."

I got up off of the ground where they laid me and saw something in the distance. "Hey. What's that over there?" Everyone looked and a stuffed animal came over to us? "What is this thing? A monkey? A bear?" Well, so much for being scared of this place.

"That's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?" It just talked. "That is it. I'm done. I'm fucking done." I sat down on the ground and turned away from the group. There was no way I was dealing with this shit any longer. "Don't yell at me like that." It sounded pretty upset. "What is this place." Leave it to Narukami to be cool and collected.

"This place is what it is. It doesn't have a name. It's where I live." Great, more riddles. Because I love those so much. "You live here?" This is just dumb. "If I was you guys, I'd hurry back to the other side. Someone's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache." We don't have time for this. "Look, show us the exit, we don't want to be here." The bear started stomping on the ground.

"I already said I was gonna let you guys out." Actually no you didn't but I'm glad to hear that. He ran over to behind Narukami. All of a sudden, three TVs popped out of the ground. "Why not? This makes more sense than anything else we've seen here." We all got up close to them and began to look at them.

"Okay, now go, go, get out of here! I'm a busy bear!" Whatever I had smoked earlier today was pretty damn good, and where the hell could I get more of it. I was about to make a smartass remark when the bear started pushing us into the small TVs.

* * *

When we came through. We were all in Junes. "Narukami. I'll never doubt you again. Now If you'll excuse me. I'm going home." With that, I left the store and walked to the Inn without looking back.

"I left my soda in the TV. Just great."

I sighed and dug around my pocket. My phone ringing was the only thing that snapped me out of my whack ass funk. My mom was calling. "Hey mom." I sat there on the phone and listened to her yell at me.

The usual stuff about not checking in, and how worried she was that I wasn't living in her house anymore. "I'm sorry I didn't call, I've just been trying to get used to life over here." I could barely focus on our conversation. The events from just a few minutes ago were still going through my head. Then she had to drop a bombshell on me.

I could barely focus on our conversation. "What do you mean you're coming out for a few days?" I still didn't have a place to stay yet. There was no way I was sharing that room with my mom. "No mom, you can't come yet. The schools haven't worked out living arrangements yet." I sighed, this was getting better and better.

"Mom, I love you. I'm hanging up now." I hung up my phone in the middle of my mom's sentence and continued on my path toward the Inn.

* * *

"Yukiko darling, I'm home!" I walked in the door, as cheery as I could. "Yukiko?" I looked around and saw no one. Just like last night. "Whatever, I'm too tired for this."

It was barely 9:00 but I was so tired that I could've fallen asleep on the floor. So right now that mat in my room sounded pretty pleasing. "Yukiko, if you're here could you wake me up tomorrow?" With that I walked to my room, promptly entered and collapsed on the mat. No changing or anything. I just sat down and let myself sleep.

Or I would have if my stomach didn't start growling. "I should probably eat." I got up and walked to the mini kitchen in the room. I opened the mini fridge and saw booze, booze, and more booze. "Well, looks like I have a complete balanced meal of Vodka and Jack here." There had to be food somewhere in town. I started digging around the drawers of the room looking for a phone book, hoping that was a similarity from the States.

For all my bad luck today, I had managed to find one. "Aiya's? That's all it says?" The name in the yellow pages had stuck out to me. I had plenty of money to order something to eat. So, I picked up my cell and dialed the number. "Hello, I'd like something for dinner." I heard a girl on the other end of the line. "Oh, um. Surprise me I guess."

She hung up and not even two minutes later there was a knock on my door. "How did you even know where I was staying?" A girl handed me a take out box and stared at me. "Just leave the bowls when you're done." I handed her the money I owed and closed the door.

"I don't know if this is the best or sketchiest thing ever."

* * *

Sorry this is a few days later than I wanted to get it out. Fun stuff we got going on here. Our smartass friend has some pretty bad luck eh? I'm interested in doing some pairings and I would love to hear what my readers would prefer to see.

It just may influence my decision ;)

Thanks to **Vincent the Vizard** for reviewing!


	4. Totally Bitchin'

**April 15th, 2011**

"I have high hopes for today!"

I sprung off of the mat and jumped into the shower. I was full of energy after one of the best meals I've ever had. I don't even know what exactly I ate, but it was good. A few minutes under the warm water and a few more to clean myself was all I needed.

I got dressed and headed out of the Inn. My uniform wasn't so standard today! After noticing most people just wore whatever over their uniforms, I added my own little touch. A blue scarf and some thick rimmed glasses.

Why a scarf?

Because I'm a total hipster like that. The glasses? Truth was I needed them to see things far away, but I was content with not wearing them most of the time. "Today is just feeling like it'll be good!"

I smiled and continued walking. For the first time I could really see Inaba. "Man these things make everything look HD." It was pretty bitchin. My mind turned to Yukiko, she hadn't gotten me up this morning, so I assumed that she hadn't heard me last night. "Whatever, maybe she's just in a little funk." She hadn't been hanging around after school with us, and at the Inn she's just been gone.

"I'll figure it out eventually. Today is no day for sadness!" My morning took a turn for the worse when I heard police sirens in the distance. "Well, I'm not talking ever again."

I resumed my walk to school in silence.

* * *

"Hey, did you see it yesterday?"

Oh great more rumors. Who was this girl? And why was she always the one opening her mouth? I sincerely hoped she caught a disease soon. "Oh course not, what is the rumor for real?" Rumors aren't allowed to be real anymore. Not after the last one. I still owed a solid two single eatings after that incident.

"Shut up you skanks! I don't want to hear about the dicks you shoved into your mouths last night!"

I gave a sarcastic smile and felt a combined five hits. One from each of the two gossiping girls and three from my all of my friends. "Fine. Keep talking about them." More hits. Florida was looking really nice right about now.

Sighing, I pulled up my phone and scrolled through my contacts. I kept searching until I saw the name Jake. My best friend from back in the states. I drafted a new message to him. It said, "_Save me, Japan hates me!_" The time difference shouldn't be an issue right now. Maybe, it was like 7 at night or something right? Maybe?

So I just held onto my phone and turned my attention back to the gathering. "Yukiko said she'd be here after lunch." I looked over at Chie and slung my arm around her shoulder. Surprising information. She didn't seem to be at the Inn this morning. "I didn't see her at all last night. It was kind of weird." My phone vibrated, signaling a new message.

"Who's that?"

I opened it to see that Jake had gotten back to me. _"No way bromo, not after you left :'(. Also I gots bad news man." _Great bad times were ahead. "Just a friend from Florida. Anyways, what's going on with this assembly?"

It was really out of place, and with all that had happened the past few days, I was a little sketched out. Nobody really had any answers for me though. "What's wrong with you Yosuke?" He seemed a little out of it.

Did he not get enough sleep last night? Or was he on his man period? "Look if it's that time of the month, I'm sure Chie will let you borrow some of her Midol." Another two hits. "Real funny Lucas. Anyways. It's nothing." Nothing from Mr PMS today of course. The group was quieting down and I had to think that the assembly was starting.

"Everyone, please settle down. The school assembly is about to begin." Right on the money! Ms. Sofue was the one getting our attention. Which worked, but not really in a good way. She was just so over the top with the pharaoh schtick. "First the Principal has some something to say."

We have a Principal?

This was news to me.

My phone took the silence as the perfect time to vibrate. "I regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you. One of our third-year students, Ms Saki Konishi of Class 3 has passed away." What in the serious fuck. "Passed away?" Chie was just as surprised as I was. I pulled out my phone and hastily checked it.

_"I caught you-know-who with someone at the movies last night. They were sucking face in the back." _Normally that news would have devastated me, but someone had just told me that a girl in the school was dead! I may not have known her, but you'd have to be pretty fucked up to not feel something from that bombshell.

"I've heard that name before." I turned around to see Yosuke holding back tears. "Ms. Konishi was found deceased early this morning. The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for you cooperation, I urge you as students of this school to provide only the facts." I suddenly remembered why that name was so familiar.

"That's the girl we teased Yosuke about dating!"

Shit I said that out loud didn't I? I looked back and saw him just standing there with his head hung. I could see tears hitting the wood floor. "Sorry man, I don't really know what to say." He waved me off and I turned my attention away, as harsh as it felt to do so. "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police, but to anyone who asks."

That was a little contradictory.

_"Who was it? Could you tell? I'm dealing with a shitstorm here. I'll get back to you." _Jake would have to wait for a little bit. Things were getting really out of hand. "Found dead? How could this happen?"

I grabbed the sleeves of Chie and Yosuke and dragged them out of the room. Narukami at our heels.

* * *

"She died the same way as that announcer right? That's so creepy."

Fucking rumors. I don't need this shit today! I'm trying to console someone. "Well last time, it was from an antenna, but this time she was hanging from a telephone pole." That's so messed up, how did a body even get up there?

Sounds like serial killer to me. Which could be really dangerous. "Someone said the cause of death was some unknown poison." Good damn, would they just shut up? "If you don't stop, your cause of death will be my foot up your ass!"

Today was not the day for this! The two girls took off after I yelled at them like that. No hits from the gang that time. "It's easy to toss around theories if you're not personally involved." Amen, Chie. Yosuke had chosen that moment to rejoin us.

"Hey, did you guys check out the TV last night?" Don't tell me you watched it again Yosuke. "No, I enjoy sleep too much." Chie seemed to know where this one was going and she tried to cut Yosuke off. He wasn't having it though. "Just listen for a second! Something kept bothering me, so I watched it again, and I think the girl on the screen was Saki-Senpai."

Why does this have to be a thing? "There's no mistaking it. Senpai looked like she was writhing in pain." That's seriously messed up. Who would show that on TV. "And then she disappeared from the screen." Way to brighten us all up Yosuke. "Look buddy, I understand you came to like this girl, but lets get rational okay?"

He wasn't listening to me though. "You heard Senpai's body was found in a similar situation as that announcer's right? Well, remember that guy you told us about? How he was all excited that his soulmate was the announcer?"

I didn't remember that actually. Maybe the times I left the group caused me to miss more than I previously thought. No more solo TaP mission for me. "Maybe, just maybe, but Ms Yamano might've been on that Midnight Channel before she died too." Seemed kind of iffy, but I wasn't going to shut the guy down after what we all experienced yesterday.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Well Chie, you should really be able to pick this up. "Hold on, are you saying?" And by the sound of things, she finally got it. "People who appear on that TV die?" Sketchy, but appearing to be true.

"So we have a serial killer who airs some kind of Pirate TV signal?" Sounded a little out there, but this place was nucking futs. So who knows at this point. "I can't say for sure. But something tells me I just can't dismiss it as coincidence."

Good detective work Yosuke, now what do you plan to do? "Plus remember what that bear thing said? How that place was dangerous, and we should leave before the fog clears?"

I don't remember that either, but I'm pretty it was because I had started tuning them out when they got long winded about being trapped. "It also said that someone's been throwing people in there." What was that supposed to mean anyway? Why was Yosuke taking the word of a talking stuffed bear as fact anyway?

"That room with the posters on the wall. It has to have something to do with the announcer's death." Ah yes, the noose room. I caught so much of the surroundings there before vomiting all over the place. "I mean don't you think there's some kind of connection there?" Well if what he was saying was true, there had to be something.

"Couldn't that world in the TV have something to do with Senpai and the announcer's death!?" Not so loud dude, we're already considered crazy enough as it is. "You might be right." Narukami finally spoke. I almost forgot that he could. "As much as I want to say no. You've got a case building up Yosuke."

He seemed a bit relieved to have backup now. "If there is a connection, then it's a good bet that the two of them went inside that world." Aha! Time for another reference! "Alright gang, we should split up and look for clues! Yosuke and Narukami, check the TV world while Chie and I look around Junes!" No one seemed to catch that one.

"Scooby Doo anyone?" Still nothing.

"Japan officially sucks." Three hits to the head.

"Anyways. That would explain the posters in that room. Which means if we look around, we might find a place that has something to do with Snepai too." Sounded a lot like splitting up and looking for clues. "Yosuke, don't tell me." Jesus Chie, let the guy make his own decisions. If he wants to investigate something creepy in a weird place then let him.

He's his own man dammit!

"Yeah, I'm thinking about going in again. I want to find out for myself." As risky and crazy as it was, he had raised plenty of valid points in his favor. "Don't do this. You should just let the police handle this and-" "You think we can rely on the police!? They haven't made any progress on the announcer's case. Besides, even if we told them about the world inside the TV, there's no way they're gonna believe us!"

Also valid points. Chie was kind of outnumbered on this one. If Narukami was with us, which I think he was. Then we had a 3 to 1 vote. Yosuke seemed really determined about all of this. "If I'm completely off-base with this, that's fine. It's just I need to know why Senpai had to die like this."

Deep words bro.

"After what I've seen and put together, there's no way I can ignore it now." He looked at Narukami with hope in his eyes. "Sorry, but you're the only person who can help me. I'm gonna go get ready. I'll be waiting for you at Junes." After that Yosuke took off. "I say we help him." Chie seemed to disagree though. "We can't be sure we'll be able to get out safely again."

I sighed and looked her in the eyes. "That's a risk Yosuke's willing to take. He understands what he's risking. Let him do this." I looked Narukami for some backup. "I think we should help him." I nodded and grabbed Chie's hand. "Come on, he'll be waiting for us." We dashed away, Narukami close behind us.

* * *

"You guys came!" Someone was a bit chipper. Yosuke was standing by the TV from yesterday holding a golf club.

"Well duh. What's with the golf club?"

"We came to stop you idiot!"

Wow Chie and I really did not agree most of the time. "C'mon you really shouldn't do this. It's too dangerous." We had already been over this Chie. "I know, but we were able to come back once right? If we go in from the same location, maybe we'll meet that bear again." A bit risky, but that rope around his waist tells me he has a plan B.

"Maybe isn't good enough!" I snapped and grabbed Chie by the shoulders. "Well It's going to have to be! We don't have another choice here!" I let go and took a few steps away. "Sorry, just really tense." I looked over and saw Narukami eying Chie and I.

"I'm worried about Lucas and Chie." I was a bit worried myself. Last time I went in I had gotten knocked out more than once, and I'm pretty sure I have a concussion or something with the way my head has been hurting. "Yeah, it'll just be you and me." As disappointing as it was that we were getting left out it was the smarter choice.

"Don't worry. I'm not going in without a plan. Chie, I'm leaving you in charge of this." So that's what the rope was for. "What's the rope for? A lifeline?" Yosuke nodded and handed it to her. "We'll go in with this tied to me, so I want you to hold on to this and wait here." Well that would stand out a bit, but I wasn't going to deny his idea.

"Here Narukami, this is for you." He handed Narukami the golf club. "I thought it might be better than going in empty-handed." I'm not sure how a golf club was going to help, but it couldn't hurt at this point. "Alright let's go. There's no use wasting any more time. Chie, whatever you do, don't let go of the rope!" You probably could've worded that a bit better there Yosuke.

"Hey wait!"

Chie's cries went unheard. They had hopped through and the rope cut off with them. "I knew this wasn't gonna work." Well shit. "Wanna go get some TaP?" She didn't move from her spot. I leaned down and pulled her off of the ground.

"Come on, let's get moving. They'll probably be a while." She let me drag her around the store to the nearest TaP machine. I put in a few yen, and grabbed the two bottles. "Here. Let's just unwind for a bit." Chie grabbed the soda and slammed it back almost instantly. "Damn." I took a few sips of mine and the two of us began walking around Junes.

"So, what's it like being Chie?" I turned to her and stopped in my tracks. She stared and seemed a bit flustered. I was going to say something witty and perverted but my cell phone was going off.

"Just one moment." Seems as if the school was calling, which didn't make a lot of sense. "Hello?" I answered and let whoever was calling do their job. "Oh really? Right by the shopping district? I can check it out?" Some great news had finally found it's way to our circle of friends. "Thanks, bye." I hung up and smiled.

"Who was that?" Chie had asked me, and I turned to face her. "I totally have a house now. I won't be able to move in tonight though." Chie seemed happy and I took the moment to stand up. "So, this is pretty embarrassing, but could you help me learn some Japanese?"

I closed my eyes and heard Chie laugh. "Great, just keep laughing, I've almost died because of the language!" When I opened my eyes, Chie was giving a weird look. "Could you at least teach me how to tell men's and women's rooms apart?" Her eyes got wide, seems she had pieced together what happened.

"Bathroom?"

I shook my head and let hang in shame. "Hot springs."

I could've sworn Taps started playing in the background. "I'm so sorry for you." I looked up and saw her, she really did look sorry. "I'm sorry for me too." She got up and took my hand.

"Let's go to the food court, I'll try to help you." I let her drag me away, hiding my face the whole time. I would never let that blush be visible.

* * *

"I can't believe you're so bad at this!"

We had been at the table for half an hour now, and Chie had been throwing 'basic' Japanese characters and words at me.

"This means flower right?"

She looked down at the scribbled-on napkin and face palmed. "Lucas, that means hello." I stood and chucked the pen we were using across the food court. "Fuck it, I'll just not learn Japanese."

Chie face palmed again and kicked me under the table, which forced me to sit down. "So what's with that dorky scarf? And those glasses look fake." Ouch, not only does she criticize my Japanese, but now my look too?

"I'm a hipster can't you tell?"

She had a blank look on her face. I guess Hipster culture wasn't a thing in Japan. "You know what, let's just go back to the electronics section. They could be back by now. Plus I need more TaP." We got up and walked to the vending machine back inside the building. "How can you stomach so much of that junk? That's so nasty."

I put the yen in and made my selection. "I'm trying to figure out the difference between TaP and Coke. And I won't stop until I get enough!" A clunk sound came from the machine and I reached down and retrieved my soda.

"Cheers and shit."

I slammed and head back and began chugging the carbonated goodness. "Twelve seconds flat! New record!" I belched rather loudly and smiled at Chie. She seemed disgusted by my antics. "What! You're just jealous!" She grabbed my arm and began dragging me the the electronics section.

"Wait I wanted another bottle!" Soon enough we were back at the TV's. And we waited.

* * *

"You guys came back!"

I woke up to the sound of Chie crying. Seems like I had passed out waiting for the two of them. They were standing pretty casually in front of the TV. "Huh? Chie? Whoa, what's with that face?"

Sounds like someone forgot who was left here. I stood up and stretched, when I did, Chie got up and threw the rope at Yosuke's face. I didn't even know that she still had that. "OW!"

That throw was pretty harsh, maybe I should check up on him. "The nerve of you guys! You are such morons! I can't believe this! You guys suck!" She started crying even more, and I kind of freaking out a little bit. She was just fine a few minutes ago. "The rope got cut off, we had no idea what to do. I was so worried."

I cleared my throat and interjected myself into the conversation. "I was pretty confident that you two could make it out actually." Chie didn't even acknowledge my statement. "I've been scared stiff, dammit! I hate you both!"

She ran off.

"So uhm. Should we go get her or something?" Yosuke got up and picked the rope up off the ground. "I think that might've kinda sorta been our fault." Well at least he had a little common sense. "One question guys. Where did those glasses come from? That's supposed to be my thing." the looked at me and took them off slowly.

"I'll explian later. I think we went a little too far today."

I nodded and grabbed Yosuke's shoulder. "Just apologize to her tomorrow, I'm sure everything will work out." Yosuke shrugged my hand off and stifled a yawn. Come to think of it, they both looked exhausted. What exactly went down in there? "I'm completely wiped out. I'm gonna go home, soak in the shower for a while, and get some sleep. I think. I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

Okay, now I really want to know what went down. "Well, see you guys in the morning!" With that Yosuke walked off, leaving just Narukami and I.

"So Lucas, I noticed you left this yesterday." I looked out to his extended hand and saw the best thing in the world. I grabbed it and held it up to the sky.

"Bitchin', my TaP bottle!" I opened it and took a sip. "Narukami, you're the best." We stood around with dumb smiles on our faces for a few minutes before things hit the awkward stage.

"So, what am I supposed to say now?" I shrugged and took another sip. "I dunno, this is usually when I ask girls about their hobbies or something." Narukami looked around and cleared his throat. "So, hobbies?" I sighed and pinched my nose. "I said girls. Not me." He shrugged and walked up to me. "Close enough really."

Ouch right to the self esteem.

"You know what, I'm just going to go to the Inn now." And with that I embarked on a quest. A quest for a nice warm mat.

* * *

When I arrived at my destination, Yukiko was sitting behind the desk. "Hello darling! How have you been!"

She seemed a bit startled by my appearance.

"Lucas-San! I'm sorry I wasn't at school today." I cut her off and casually leaned against the desk.

"Come on baby, you know I'm okay with that." I got a slap across my face. God Damn did it sting!

"You know what, I think i'll stop telling jokes for the rest of forever. I'm going to bed now."

* * *

"Dammit it would be raining tonight."

The rain was pouring down and had no signs of stopping before midnight. "After everything Yosuke said, I don't think I can just go to sleep." I sat down on the mat and stared at the turned off TV. I pulled out my phone.

Two new messages.

First message, _Lucas, be careful in Japan, after your sister..._ I really didn't need to see that today Jake, thanks anyway.

Second message, _Lucas it's probably gonna rain all tonight, you should watch the midnight channel. _ The second was from Narukami. I shot back a reply that read, _way ahead of you dude. _

I sat back and waited. Soon enough the TV clicked on and emitted that yellowish fuzz. "So weird. I can't tell who that is though. Is that a kimono?"

Whatever. My phone buzzed again. And it kept buzzing, seems as if Narukami was calling.

"So, uhm. There was definitely someone there right?"

"Yep."

"We're telling Yosuke and Chie tomorrow right?"

"Yep."

"Goodnight Narukami."

"Goodnight Keep."

He hung up and I flopped over on the mat. Why is this a thing?

* * *

So yeah. Super duper sorry that this is a million years late. School kind of became a thing and I got bogged down.

Anyways, seems like Lucas is starting to take things a little more seriously.

**Thanks to Zer0Fool, Xx-Illusion Fox-xX, Chibi3000, and Vincent the Vizard for the bitchin' reviews!** Sorry this took longer than I expected. I'll do my best to get another chapter up by the end of the week!


	5. Getting Serious

**4/16/11**

"So tired." I got up off my mat and checked my phone for the time. "Too early to wake up, but not enough time for me to fall back asleep." I groaned and walked to the bathroom for my morning shower.

"Man my hair is getting pretty shaggy." I was staring in the mirror, and my bangs were beginning to cover my eyes. "I don't even know if haircuts are a thing in Japan." I groaned again and stepped into the shower. The water came on, and I let myself soak. After more than a few minutes of just sitting there, I got out and tried off slowly.

"I'm glad there's no school today. Saturdays are just the best." I stumbled out of the bathroom, still half asleep and sat down on my mat. A few moments went be before my phone started ringing. It was the school.

"Hello?" I was still way too groggy to deal with this. "There's school today" My brain just exploded. "Yeah, thanks for making sure. Bye." I hung up and shouted in frustration. "God dammit Bobby!" My body forced itself to rise and walk to my uniform.

"Japan is the worst place in existence."

* * *

"Hey losers!"

I shouted and ran up ahead to catch up to Narukami and Yosuke. They were just standing in the middle of the street, shaking hands like a couple of assholes. They didn't look, they turned and walked to school. "Losers. Way to ignore me." I ran after them and followed them into the school, meeting up with Chie along the way.

"Chie! Lucas!" We had just walked into the classroom when Yosuke called us over. "Oh so now you want to talk to me?" Yosuke looked pretty confused and I shook my head. Guess they really didn't notice back there.

"Look about yesterday, We're sorry we worried you." Chie shrugged and looked around the classroom a bit. "Never mind that, is Yukiko still not here?" I didn't see her this morning. I don't think I did anyway. "Yukiko-San? No? At least, I haven't seen her today." Yosuke was kind caught off guard by Chie's dismissal of his apology.

"I didn't see her this morning at the Inn." Chie got a really worried look on her face and whimpered a little bit. "Oh man. What should I do? Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real? You know all that about how people showing up on the Midnight Channel is related to that other world." I think I was starting to put two and two together.

"Oh we were just talking about that. We're thinking of checking it out later-" Chie had no time for Yosuke's sentences. She intteruppted him with "The person on TV yesterday I think it was Yukiko." Well fuck. "That kimono looks like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during the interview a few days ago too."

Shit, that was a kimono. "I thought I had seen that before."

Chie kept going. "I got worried, so I emailed her last night, but she hasn't responded. I called her earlier in the evening though, and she said she'd be at school today. I.." Back up just a minute, email? People in Japan actively check their emails? Or was that just me that didn't bother to open one of the four that I have?

"Calm down. We get the picture. And you still haven't heard from her? Lucas when was the last time you saw her?" I thought it over while Chie shook her head no. "Last night when she slapped me for making a bad joke I think." At that moment, my phone started to ring. "Sorry, just give me a minute."

I stepped out into the hall and answered. "Hello? Oh. Can I call you back later? Now's not a good time." Without waiting for a response, I hung up and walked back into the class. "Really don't want to deal with that today." When I rejoined the group, Chie was on the phone.

"No good her voice mail picked up." Seems as if things had gotten even more serious. I really have to stop leaving the group. Seems like I miss all the important shit. "She's not answering." This was starting to sound really bad. "Are you serious? Then is Yukiko-San inside that place?" Could she really be in the TV?

"Just stop it! Something must've come up, like an errand or something. Or she might be working at the Inn. She wouldn't be able to answer her cell if that's it." Things were getting really bleak. "Yeah but would she skip school for that?" I think she did yesterday? So I guess she would? "Hold on guys, I can call the Inn and check."

I pulled my phone out again and dialed the number. Within a minute the phone was answered. "Hello Yukiko?" Her voice flooded the receiving end of my phone. "Thank god I found you. Everyone was freaking out." Realizing that I may have messed up my choice of words I quickly corrected myself. "Just kidding. Anyways, I'll see you later tonight!" With that I hung up.

"So she's at the Inn."

Chie got really pissed and got in Yosuke's bubble. "Oh for crying out loud Yosuke! You got me worried over nothing!" Well that certainly is the direct approach. "Narukami. We may be dealing with a bunch of idiots." He kicked the back of my leg from under his desk and made me wince in pain. "Whatever. My body will soon become immune to your violence anyway."

He shook his head and we both turned to the fight happening right next to us. "There is a reason we thought that. We thought people show up on the Midnight Channel because they're already over in that world. I mean it makes sense, right? People show up on TV because they're inside the TV. But Yukiko-San is still here, in our world. We might want to see what this is about. Let's meet up at Junes after school."

Well I guess my plans have been decided for me. "Whatever. Wake me up after school." With that I took my seat and promptly started my power nap.

* * *

"Anyways, we need to know what's going on inside-"

When I came over from the TaP machine, Yosuke seemed to be going over a plan of action. "How by talking to that Teddie guy?" Of course the bear would be named Teddie. "Yeah too bad there's so many customers around. I forgot there's a sale in the electronics department today." I sighed mentally, Yosuke has already proven to be the most forgetful person I know.

"I got it! C'mere a sec." This was not going to end well. "Yu, try sticking your hand in and calling him over. I bet that bear's wandering the entrance anyway." Well that's not a bad plan. Except for the customers right next to us. "Hey Chie, Lucas, stand over here. Make a wall with me. A wall? Jesus, my friends are idiots.

"A wall?"

Glad Chie had enough brain juice to question it as well. I walked over and tried to make myself and big as possible to block as much view as possible. It looked really awkward and stuff. So it was clearly going to work. "Something bit me!" I turned and faceplamed.

"Keep it down!"

"Not so loud, you idiot!"

Well I'm glad Chie and I were finally on the same page. "Are you okay?" Narukami looked her in the eye and said in the most monotone voice, "I might be dying." She sighed and gave him a disapproving look. "You're fine. That stupid bear must've done it."

I walked up to the screen and pressed my head against it. No ripples like when Narukami does. "Teddie, get over here! I know you're there." The TV started to ripple when I pulled my head back. "Ooh ooh, is this a game?" Jesus, I am going to kill that bear and hang him above my fireplace. "No, it's not a game! Can you sense anyone inside there right now?"

Way to be blunt Yosuke. "Who's anyone? I'm a lonely little bear like always. This land feels so bear-ren." Great he's beaten me to the bad pun schtick. There would be nothing left for me at this rate!

"I can bear-ly believe that there's no one else in there." I heard a collective groan from everyone else around me. "So there's no one inside? You're sure?" Chie took over the conversation, so I stepped back in defeat.

"I'm not lying! MY nose is running as good as ever!" Chie and I looked at each other. "I'm not even going to question that." With that we all kind of ended our conversation, which was going on right next to customers. Who probably heard everything that was just said. "I'm gonna go warn Yukiko anyway. Since she'll be busy this weekend helping out at the Inn. I doubt she'd go anywhere alone, but still."

That was probably the safe move. "You two will walk her to school on Monday right? Let's check out tonight's Midnight Channel to see what shows up." I shrugged. "I don't know man. I'm starting to move into my house tomorrow." Yosuke smiled and offered me a fist bump. "Nice man where, is it?" I shrugged, and pulled out my phone.

I made a note on it of the address. "Somewhere in the shopping district. The address is on here somewhere. If you guys aren't you should totally come help me move in. Cause you guys are awesome like that." Everyone smiled a bit, and we all started to walk out together. "What's your cell number? I'll give everyone a call when we watch the midnight channel."

Narukami, Yosuke, and I pulled out our cell phones and held them up. The contact info registered and made me happy. "That feature is still just totally bitchin'!" I closed my phone and pushed my bangs out of my eyes.

"Alright, don't forget to watch tonight." With that we reached the front of the store and left toward our respective homes. Well Inn in my case, but that would soon change.

* * *

When I arrived, I went straight to my room and got my phone out.

My fingers were hovering over the return call option. "I really should call him back." The number was to a hospital. One here in Japan actually.

"Sis..."

The doctor called about once a month to update everyone on her condition. I stopped answering really. It was too heartbreaking. If something good happened my mom would just call me directly. Sighing, I stared at the TV.

It was still a billion hours till midnight, and I was hungry. I had added Aiya's to my phone after that last amazing meal. I dialed the number and called again. "Hello. I'd like today's special for delivery to the Amagi Inn."

The same girl as before was on the other end. "Great see you soon." I hung up and got my wallet. "3000 yen? What exactly is this special?" The door was knocked on and I knew it was my food.

"You guys have possibly the best delivery system ever. I'll leave the bowls out front like last time." I handed her the money in exchange for my meal and walked back to my mat. I sat down and opened up my meal. "Dear god, what have I done?" There was a mountain of beef with an egg on top staring back at me.

"Here goes nothing."

* * *

"So much beef.."

It was almost midnight, and my stomach had exploded. I barely put a dent in the bowl before I couldn't eat anymore. "Must fight food coma..." I struggled to keep awake through the Midnight channel.

The familiar yellowish light came on, and god damn did it blow my mind.

"Yukiko, princess dress, stud searching..."

The shit storm that just appeared on my TV was enough to break me. "Whatever that was. Is not worth the remaining brain power I have today." My phone went off again. Narukami was calling. I answered and cleared my throat.

"Yes I saw, yes I'm confused, and no She's not here."

"So we're meeting up at Junes tomorrow right Lucas?"

"You're damn right we are, Narukami."

* * *

This chapter was a bit shorter, but I was able to get it out in less than two and a half weeks. From now on, I'll do my best to update once a week. No guarantees though. This next chapter should be a bit longer than the rest have been. It's a much longer day in the game.

Anyways, **Thanks to Zer0Fool, Vincent the Vizard, Sladaris, and Jason Mosbey for reviewing.**

****See you guys next time.


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